Mechanism for controlling the operation of machines and apparatus.



G. TER MEIER.

MECHANISM FOR CONTROLLING THE OPERATION OF MACHINES AND APPARATUS.

' APPLICATION FILED 020.10.1913.

Patented Nov. 5, 1918;.

2 SHEETS-SHEET l- G. TER IVIEER.

MECHANISM FOR CONTROLLING THE OPERATION OF MACHINES AND APPARATUS.

APPLICATION FlL ED DELHI-19H- 2 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

V 0 N d 6 AL H 6 L r w P TQEEESEEEQ team To all, whomit may concern:

answer we Manner no vnn, ent

; MECHISM FOR, GUNTROLLING THE OPERATIDN F MACHINES D 1P1 WATUfi Be it known that I, GUSTAV 'rnn MEER, a

- subject of the Emperor of Germany, and

resident of Hanover, in the Province of Hanover and State of Prussia, Germany, have invented certain new, and useful limprovementsin- Mechanism for Controlling fthe Operation of Machines and Apparatus,

I of which the following is a specification. 1 My invention is designed for use in connection, with .various difierent kinds of machines and apparatus in which it is desired that certain functions, operations or series of v steps beautomatically repeated in the proper 'llh.

sequence at regular or controllable intervals, forinstance, at the beginning or ending. of

' .a' main workingperiod. 'By means of my invention I am able to positively insure the performance of such functions, operations :or seriesof steps n uninterrupted succession in a fixed period at the proper time in the. working cycle of the machine or apparatus This may be either after a predetermined time interval, or after a predeterltt -tions going to make up the main working mined number of rotations or other operaperiod of themachineor apparatus, or as an incident 'to said main working period, or after a main Working period. variable either at the option of the operator or automatieally upon the production or arrival of a I predetermined condition or state of the materlaljreceived, operated on, .or discharged.

My invention'in its broad aspect is not lim- Iitedfor'use in connection with any particular type of machine or apparatus. During the main working period material-may be .op'erated'upon to efl'ect a chemical change, a

tit

mechanical separation, filtration or mixing, "a change in temperature, flu1d ty or pulverization, or merely a change in position as for f -inst ance, the winding of sheet material. At

i '1 the, end of the mainworkin'g periodthe operations, functions or series of stepsmay be of any des redjcharacter dependent upon the material. operated on and'the character of f thework done in the main working period. The mechanical removal of the charge and the admission of a fresh charge is a simple example although they may includeinnumerable others such as adding ingredients or admitting wash water or steam to the working chamber, after the discharge of load.

As a typical example of a machine in connection' with which my invention is partlcularly useful I, might mention a centrifugal specification of Letters Patent.

Patented my, ltd,

Application filed. December 10, 1913. serial Ito. $05,693.

machine for. separating the solid matter (2) Inserting siphon pipe to take out the liquid remaining in the drum and not able to flow out over the overflow-edge. (3) Removing the siphon-pipe.

(at) Opening thedrum casing, to permit the discharge of material.

E5; Closing the drum casing.

6 Admitting fresh material'by opening the supplyconduit.

In this or other machines havirigaperiodical discharge it is to be desiredthat all functions repeated in a certain sequence at intervals during the operatlon of the machine,'be automatically regulated, but it is also desired that it. be possible for the operator to set the duration of the main working period or interval according to variations in I the material operated on. For instance, the

filling of the drum of the centrifugal machine with solid material will. be accomplished in a shorter or longer'time dependent upon the composition of the material ad: mitted'. Consequently the regulation device must allow of an easy and quick regulation of the length of this time interval orwor ing period. The other operations take place independently of the condition of. the material and in uninterrupted succession, each during a fixed time period for a single op eration. The time after the operation stated under (6)'to Wit, admitting fresh material, and before the operation stated under] (1), to Wit, the shutting off of the supply requires a very large margin and must be determined according to the'kind of material, so that before the shutting-off of the supply the drum is filled with material up to a certainlimit.

llf all of the material operated on be of uniform characterthe main working may lllti' be automatically terminated by the starting of the other operations after a definite time interval. If the character of the material be variable the working period may be ter minated either automatically or manually when a predetermined quantity of solid material has accumulated in the drum.

I wish it definitely understood that my broad invention is not limited in its use with such an apparatus as that shown in said application, but may be used with other types of centrifugal machines, or with machines or apparatus designed for entirely different purposes, and in which a predetermined series of steps or operations take place at intervals. In the accompanying drawings, I have illustrated two forms which my invention may assume, but as various changes may be made in details of construction and arrangement of parts within the scope of my invention as defined in the appended claims, I desire these drawings to be consid-- ered in an. illustrative rather than in a limiting sense.

In these drawings, in which similar reference characters indicate corresponding parts in the several views, 7

, Figure 1 is a side elevation of one form of apparatus, ertain parts being shown in section- Fig. 2 is an enlarged view of the movable clutch collar shown in Fig. 1; I

Fig. 3 is a side elevation of a slightly modforming the separate steps or operations 'when said shaft is rotated. The shaft a is stationary during the main working period of the machine in connection with which it is employed, and is intermittently and automatically rotated one complete revolution at the end of said main working period and is then locked against further operation as will be hereinafter more particularly described. The rotation of the shaft may operate to set the mechanism or the various difl'erent mechanisms of the machine in operation-in anysultable manner, as for instance by cams mounted 1n operative position 1n respect to certain movable parts. The character of these partswill ofcourse depend upon the nature ofthe machine in connection with which my improved mechanism is employed, and therefore, I do not wish to be limited to any specific means for transmitting motion from the shaft a to the parts of the machine controlled by my improved mechanism. As a simple and eflicient power transmitting device which is particularly adapted for use in connection with the centrifugal machine illustrated in my co-pending application above referred to, I have shown the shaft a provided with three cams n is and n Ad jacent to each cam I provide a valve casing.

2 the longitudinally movable valve st of which terminates adjacent to the periphery of the corresponding cam. To avoid confusion in the drawing I have only illustrated one of these valves and valve casings, but it is evident of course that I contemplate the employment of a separate one for each cam. Each valve st is held in engagement with the cam, by fluid pressure or other means and friction may be reduced if desired by an anti-friction roller 1 following the curve of the cam. Each valve serves to control the flow of a fluid under pressure to a piston, diaphragm or other operating part of the main machine. With the valve depressed as shown, the fluid under pressure which is supplied through a conduit 1, may flow through the conduit 3 to the piston, diaphragm or other movable operating member of the machine. The exhaust fluid from the opposite side of saidpiston, diaphragm or other member may return through the conduit 1,

and escape to the exhaust conduit 2. With the valve in raised position the fluid under pressure entering through the conduit 1, will be delivered to theconduit 4, and the conduit 3 will be in communication with the exhaust conduit 2. I do not claim any particular improvement in this piston valve and c0 operating parts, in this application. The cams n, n and n are rotatably adjustable on the shaft a so that the timing of the engagement of the several cams with the valves or other mechanisms operated thereby may be readily regulated at will.

When using the mechanism in connection with the centrifugal machine illustrated in my co-pending application above referred to, the valve operated by one cam may control, through the transmission of pneumatic or hydraulic pressure, the operation of the gate or valve admitting material to the machine, another cam may control the insertion and removal of the siphon for taking off the liquid remainin in the drum and the third cam may control the opening and closing of the drum chamber for th'intermittent 'dis charge of. the dried material. As the cams each make a complete revolution with the shaft a and are then stopped as hereinafter described, it will be noted that the separate operations brought about by the movement of the separate cams will follow each other in the desired order, and all of the operations will be effected during the time required for one rotation of the shaft and the cams thereon. The speed at which the shaft a is rotated will of course be regulated in accordance with the necessary time to perform the several operations which are controlled by size of this worm wheel and .worm are such in res thereof toward and nner my fimproved- .mechanismLi The "time interval between successive. rotations of the shaft a will be regulated in'accordance with the time inter-val required for the main worlfing Period of the machine.

any suitable manner. This may be by means of a sprocket wheel R receiving itspower from some rotating part of .the machine. As the shaft to is intermittently con- .nected to the shaft a to drive the latter T use such gearing that the shaft w makes one revolution in a time intervalequ'al to that necessary for accomplishin the various operations or steps controller? by the cams on the shaft 0;.

For operativelyconnecting the shafts a and w T provide the shaft to with a clutch collar is keyed thereto, so as to rotate therewith. On the shaft a I provide a clutch collar m held against rotation in respect to said shaft, but free to move longitudinally from the clutch collar is. The opposed faces of the two clutch collars are provided with teeth a, which may be of any desired shape but are preferably of the form shown in Fig. 2.

0n the shaft to is a worm g meshing with a worm wheel r to rotate the latter, said worm Wheel being mounted manner asfor instance in a the pitch of the out to the speed of rotation of the shaft 10 t at one revolutionof the worm wheel 1" will bear-a diderent relationship to the normal time interval required for the main working period of the machine.

is to rotate of the worm wheel r.

Mechanism is collar m will be intermittently moved into operative engagement with the clutch collar the shaft a during the rotation r makespne complete rotation during the normal wprking period of the machine, the Worm wheel'r may operate this mechanism to bring the clutch collars together once during each revolution. A simpleimecha- -111SII1WlilCl1 may be provided to=accomplish this result is a lever it supported on a pivot m and having one end carrying a pin b, proannular groove on the clutch may present a cam face or in the path of a pin 8 projecting outwardly from the face of the worm wheel. The worm wheel is preferably provided with an annular row of openings into any one of which the-pin 8 may be inserted and the lever h is held with the clutch collar m out ofoperative position in any suitable bracket H. Thev provided whereby the clutch If the'WQrm wheel and with the cam face a, in the' path ofthe pin by means of nected' to the spring and held in place by a nut fm. I To insure the holding of the clutch collar a suitable spring f. The tensionpf this spring may be regulated bythe endwise adjustment of a link a con min operative position to produce one complete revolution of the shaft a I provide the bearing 1 with a stationary collar 8 presenting a cam face engaging with a cor- 1 responding cam face e ,on the clutch collar m. clutch collar m after bein moved endwise into engagement with thee utch collar is and These cam -faces are such that the partly rotated, can not be moved out of engagement with the clutch collar k untih one complete revolution has been made. Thus it is not necessary for the lever h to hold theclutch collar'm in position for more than a very brief instant to insure the desired complete revolution of the shaft' which results in spite of the tendency of" the spring 7 to disengage the clutch and irrespective of the engagement of thecam n with the pin 8. These cam surfaces on the clutch collar m and the stationary col-3 lar s not only prevent the shafta from stopping before one revolution has been completed, but they also insure the" normal retainingof the shaft or and its cams a n and n in the proper startlng position.

Tf the main working period of the m# chine occupies but a comparatively short time interval, the worm wheel'r may be provided with a plurality of pins spaced apart to the desired distance so that each pin .9 in passing the cam n will bring about a rotation of the shaft a and the performance of the several steps controlled by the several cams on said shaft. If the opera tor desires to lengthen or shorten ,the required time for the main working period of the machine due to irregularity in the character of the material operated upor he may remove the pin 8 and replace it in a retarded or advanced position. Thus. the

series of steps or succession of operations.

will automatically take place after time intervals, the length of which may be auto: matically controlled by the operator. The

shaft a will be eflected in the proper sequence, each in its proper time interval 1n thecycle irrespective of variations in the operations controlled by the rotation of-the illustrated in Fig. 1 is designedprimarily.

for use wherethe material operated upon is of substantially uniform character so that themain Working periods will be substantially uniform and each will require a time equal to the time of one complete revolution of the worm wheel 7" or of a predetermined fractionalpart thereof as for instance one- Nil half or one-third. It is also noted that this time period could be varied by a manual removing and replacing of the pin or pins 8. If desired I may automatically control the machine irrespective of definite time intervals and in accordance with the variations in the character of the material. This -means may be actuated by the material 4 and 5. Broadly this device includes a member supported from a stationary part of the centrifugal machine and projecting into the drum so that when the solid material has accumulated in the drum to a predetermined extent, it will engage with the said member and operate the latter to effect 4 the engagement of the clutch. The member may be so mounted that it will not be operated when projecting into liquid in the drum, but will only be operated by encountering solid material. In the specific form illustrated in Fig. 4 the upper stationary portion D of the casing of the centrifugal machine supports a vertically disposed bearing L within which is mounted a shaft or pivot pin A projecting down toward the interior of the drum '1. At the lower end ,of this shaft there is a knife blade M or other suitable member secured thereto by a bracket B and terminating in such position within the drum that it will engage with the solid material when the latter has accumulated to the desired extent. The specific character of the drum T forms no portion of my present invention, although that illustrated is slmilar to the drum shown in my co-pending application above referred to. This drum includes a top or lid having a wall portion a over which the liquid may flow after the solid material has settled toward the peripheral wall of the drum. The peripheral Wallis preferably downwardly movable in respect to the bottom {and top to permit a discharge of the solid material, and when in closed-position engages'with .a gasket 71 on the under side of a flange al of the top.

At the upper end of the shaft A and outside of the drum I provide an arm S mounted to swing substantially horizontally with the knife blade or other member M. The arm S normally engages with a stop a on a stationary bracket and is held in position by a coil springF as shown in Fig. .5. The tension of the spring is such that when the drum is rotating at high speed the friction caused by the engagement of the knife blade M m llquid will not overcome the tension of the spring but the increased friction caused by the engagement of the knife blade M in solid material will overcome the tension of the spring F and cause the arm S to swing away from the stop a. The tension of this spring may be regulated by a thumb screw F on the end of a link R attached to one end of" the spring.

Mounted on the bracket is a lever H having a depending arm I) normally engaging with the end .of the arm S, so that the latter constitutes a positive stop to the swinging of the lever H in one direction past the position indicated in Fig. 4:. A suitable spring F normally tends to swing the lever H away from the stop but mechanism hereinafter described and connected to the lever H by a connecting rod or wire K more than counteracts this tendency.

For use in connection with the device illustrated in Figs. 4 and 5, I somewhat modify the device shown in Fig. 1, and may employ it in the form shown in Fig. 3. In this form I connect the rod or wire K to a bell crank lever Hf, having a pivot pin 3/ on the support for the bearing 1 of the shaft a. One arm of this bell crank lever carries a weight G tending to pull down on the rod or wire K while the other arm 0 of the bell crank lever terminates adjacent a pin a on the clutch collar m so as to move the clutch collarym into operative position when the weight G is lowered.

It will be thus seen that the weight Gr is held in raised position with the clutch collar m out of operation so long as the arm S is in such position, as to prevent the swinging of the lever H When the solid material in the drum has accumulated to such an extent as to engage with the edge of the knife blade M, the latter is moved laterally by the increased friction and the arm S is moved out of the path of the arm 1). The weight may now drop and the clutch collar m will be moved into operative position and the shaft a caused to rotate.

In order to restore the weight G to its normal position, I may provide mechanism operated by the shaft w when the latter has rotated to effect a partial rotation of the shaft a. It will be remembered that the I shaft a when once starting to rotate Wlll 115 make one complete revolution before stopping. For raising the weight G to permit the return of'the clutch collar m to inoperative position and to permit the arm S to return into, locking position in respect to the arm D, I provide the shaft w with a wheel 1 presenting a earn a Mounted in a stationary sleeve u I provide a rod S having one end adapted to engage with the arm 0- of the bell crank lever H and with the other end adapted to move into and out of the path ofthe cam a. This 'rod is free to move endwise and is normally out of the path of the cam but when the weight G lowers, the arm 0 moyesth'e rod endwise and at the, same time effects the engageemnt of the inst-nae clutch collars m and It. During the following revolution of the shaft to the cam a? will engage with the end of the rod S to force the latter endwise and raise the weight G. The clutch collar at will stay in engagement during the rest of one revolution and then will automatically disengage. The disengaging may be effected in any suitable manner as for instance by a sprmg, not shown.

It is of course evident that the identical mechanism shown in Fig. 3 and similar mechanism to that shown in F igs. 4L and 5 may be employed for controlling the operations or functions of various machines other than centrifugal machines, and that the arm S may be moved to set the controlling mechanism in operation upon the arrival of any predetermined condition in the material operated upon by the machine, for instance the arm S might be moved by predetermined amount of liquid accumulates 1n any desired container, or it might be operated when a predetermined quantity of sheet material has been wound upon a spindle. llnnum'erable other conditions in various types of machines might start the mechanism in operation.

Having thus described my invention what ll claim is: I

1. A device for controlling centrifugal separators including a normally stationary shaft, a shaft rotated at a substantially constant speed, a rotary member driven by said second mentioned shaft and at a materially slower rate, said rotary member having a circularly disposed series of openings or recesses therein, normally disengaged clutch -members for driving saidfirst mentioned vmgs or recesses and a shaft from said second mentioned shaft, a pm adapted to enter any one of said'openlever having one'end operatively connected to one of said clutch members and having the opposite end in the path of circular movement of said pin.

2. A .device for controlling centrifugal separators, including a normally stationary operated upon a a float when a shaft, a shaft rotated at a substantially constant speed, a clutch member secured to said second mentioned shaft, a clutch member adapted to cooperate therewith and slidable on said first mentioned shaft, a stationary member cooperating with said second mentioned clutch member and preventing axial movement of the latter except when said second mentioned clutch member has been r0- 3 tated to a predetermined point in respect to said stationary member, a lever for moving said second mentioned clutch member axially into mesh with said first mentioned clutch member and thereby effecting the rotation of said first mentioned shaft and said second mentioned clutch member, and means said second mentioned shaft for swinging said lever.

predetermined rotation of 3. A device for controlling centrifugal separators, including a normally stationary shaft, a shaft rotated at a substantially constant speed, a clutch member secured to said second mentioned shaft, a clutch member adapted to cooperate therewith and slidable on said first mentioned shaft, a stationary member coo era-ting with said second men tioned clutch member and preventing axial movement of the latter exce t when said second mentioned clutch mom er has been rotated to a predetermined point in respect to said stationary member, and means operatedupon a predetermined rotation of said sec- 0nd mentioned shaftfor movin said second mentioned clutch member axia y into mesh with said first mentioned clutch member and thereby efiecting the rotation of said first mentioned shaft and said second mentioned clutch member.

Signed at Hanover, Germany this twenty fourth day of November, at. D. 1913.

e A GUSTAV amen MERE,

- Witnesses:

dunner Parse, 'l. Hnnnr Rana Bill 

